Theme 11: Puzzle/Nazo
"A puzzle is like a picture; it's worth a thousand words…you just have to put it together." – Snowy Peach Tusbasa

"A-A-ACHOO!"

Momo batted away the offending dust. She and Toshiro were cleaning out the rooms in their oba-san's house. She was getting on with time and she really did need their help once in a while; the amount of dust and whatnots that gathered in some of the places was unbelievable! She rubbed the bridge of her nose and resumed her sweep at the living room floor.

"I hope oba-san's enjoying herself at Masashi-san's," she mused as she used her toe to tease out a pebble wedged into the corner. It popped out, bounced against her toe and flew a few inches to her left before finally becoming still. She swept it into the ever growing mound near the front door.

It took well over half an hour to rid the various surfaces of what seemed like years of collected dust. Finally, there was nothing left to do (dusting-wise) but to sweep the mound of dust and filth right out the door. A devilish grin came onto her face. She stuck her tongue out, decided on where to best aim, raised her broom and forcefully sent the mound flying.

Unfortunately, Toshiro chose that exact moment to appear in the doorway.

The broom fell down with a clatter as Momo hid her face in her hands, peeking through her fingers. The cloud of dust was settling, but most of it on her dear, and soon to be very grumpy, friend. Tentatively, she lowered her hands as he came into view.

"Oops." She scratched her cheek. "S-sorry, Hitsugaya-kun, but really, it was your own fault for coming this way."

"Hinamori," he gritted out through his teeth. "How is this my fault?!" He took a step forward, but the movement caused the gathered dust in his hair to fall and he spent the next five seconds enraged, trying to return his hair to its normal colour.

"Well, you knew I was cleaning up here, Hitsugaya-kun," she insisted, and then laughed when he gave her a murderous glare, knowing that her playful banter wasn't out of line. She picked up her broom and trotted over behind him, giving him a small push. "You go take a shower and I'll finish up here."

"And whose fault is it that I have to waste my time with a shower?"

"Yours," Momo replied with a firm nod.

It was three in the afternoon and the bed sheets were all drying in the nonexistent wind. Toshiro and Momo were nearly done cleaning the last room; the room they used to share back then when they were kids and the very idea of being a shinigami was nonsensical. Toshiro undid the latch on the window and aired out the few pillowcases while Momo was clearing out the small closet on the adjacent wall.

"I can't believe oba-san kept everything the way it was," Toshiro noted with a wistful tone.

"Well…" Momo broke off into an incoherent mumble.

"I couldn't hear you, Bed Wetter. Speak up."

"I said!" She cleared her throat. "I said…maybe oba-san was just afraid of losing a piece from her puzzle."

"What do you mean?"

Momo turned back to her work, standing up on her toes on a chair to reach into the depths of the top shelf. For a minute, she let Toshiro's question hang unanswered in the air. She withdrew her hand and bent down to deposit a yellow sliver of paper into the trash bag. "A puzzle's that's missing a piece is incomplete and if you compare that to life…well, it's a scary thought."

"When did you get so perceptive?" he questioned with obvious surprise.

Momo blew up her cheeks in anger and threw several moth balls at him; they failed to even cover half the distance and rolled pitifully on the floor. "I'm always perceptive, Shiro-chan, thank you very much!" She stuck her tongue out at him. "Nya!"

"Just asking," he grumbled, turning back around to clean again. He was just about to take the futons out when he heard Momo make an exclamation of surprise. He turned around and saw a large, dusty frame in her hands with a small circle wiped clean in the centre.

"What do you have there, Bed Wetter?"

She jumped up and attempted to hide the frame behind her back. "N-nothing, Hitsugaya-kun! Nothing at all!"

He raised a sceptical eyebrow, dropped the futon and walked over. "Please, I'm not blind and even if I was, you're terrible at lying and I could overpower you either way. You've lost," he simply said before holding out his hand, wordlessly demanding for the item.

Momo's eyes slid from side to side, but she admitted defeat with a sigh and slowly held out the frame. Once Toshiro received it, she placed her hand behind her back and looked to the side; her face was beginning to flush. Curious as to what was behind the glass and why Momo was so hesitant in giving it to him, Toshiro wiped away at the remaining dust, revealing a puzzle. It was a landscape depicting a beautiful countryside in which snow had recently covered. It was twilight in the picture and everything was bathed in an ethereal glow. However, it was incomplete; a small portion of the sky and rolling hills was not there.

Toshiro looked hardly at the puzzle. "Why does this seem so familiar?"

He heard a series of soft clattering noises and looked up to see Momo in front of him, holding a small, faded box close to her chest. She met his eyes and then looked back down again, blushing. "W-well…we started this a long time ago, back when we were kids. You said that we'd finish it the next day, but the next day was my first day at the Shinigami Academy, and I didn't want to finish it without you, so…I put it away like that."

Toshiro was struck speechless for a moment. "B-baka. Procrastinating this long when you could've finished it fine by yourself."

"I suppose…" she said, lowering her hands.

"…Hey…so let's go finish this thing." Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed one of her wrists. They did nothing for a moment, except stare at where they were connected. Red rose up their faces; Toshiro removed his hand while at the same time Momo pulled her wrist away. They turned their heads away in opposite directions while a silence descended. Toshiro cleared his throat and started to walk. "Coming, Bed Wetter?"

"H-hey!" she spluttered out, but nonetheless followed him.

They walked out onto the sun kissed porch and sat down on its warm wooden planks. Momo tipped out the contents of the box so that they were scattered between them. Carefully, Toshiro removed the frame and they began to complete the long-overdue puzzle together. The skies sent down pleasant breezes, so they were content to just sit there in the silence.

Soon, they became absorbed and didn't notice that they were both reaching for the same piece. Their hands brushed up against one another, causing them both to raise their heads. It must have been only two seconds that they stared at each other, but it seemed like an eternity. Momo averted her gaze, snatched the piece their hands were floating over and busied herself with finding its place. Toshiro tried not to stare.

The puzzle was down to its last two pieces, with Momo and Toshiro each holding one. At the same time, they shot their hands forwards and placed their pieces in.

"Done!" they both exclaimed, looking up to smile at one another; they just didn't realise how close their heads were. Their excitement became short-lived and they stared at each other, wondering what would happen if their lips were to meet. Neither of them seemed to realise that that they were slowly moving closer to each other, testing to see if they would pull back. They closed their eyes; Toshiro's fingers brushed against Momo's cheeks-

"Momo? Toshiro?"

They both jumped and instantly placed far more distance than necessary between them. Standing at the end of the path leading up to the house was their oba-san accompanied by an old, silver-haired man. They seemed to be at a loss for words.

"E-Eh?! Oba-san?! Why are you back so early?" Momo asked, clearly trying to avoid a certain topic being brought up.

"Masashi accompanied me to the markets today, so I had a lot less to carry. Ah, thank you, Masashi." The elderly woman smiled up at her friend and walked through the gate he held open for her. Momo rushed forward to pluck the bags out of her hands. "Thank you, dear. I'm making your favourite tonight. It's so rare to see you two down here."

"We're really sorry, oba-san. We've just been busy."

"Busy, I'm sure," Masashi laughed as he climbed up the few stairs to the porch, giving Toshiro a large wink before heading inside.

Momo stared up at the dark ceiling with her hands folded on top of the thin blanket. She sighed and turned on her side, staring at the table were the puzzle was resting.

"When did you get so perceptive?"

"Baka," she muttered, turning over on her other side. "I'm not perceptive. I'm just missing a piece myself."

She leaned up and looked across the room; Toshiro was sleeping on his back, looking as serious as ever. Quietly, she removed the blanket and crawled over to his sleeping form, cringing whenever she pressed down on a loose floorboard. She hovered over him. When she looked at his face, memories from this afternoon came flooding back, making her heart hammer.

"Be quite," she hissed at her thudding heart, before looking back at Toshiro. "Hmph. Were you really about to kiss me today, Shiro-chan?"

She shifted her body so that her face was positioned right over his. Slowly, she began lower her head, wondering all the while if this was what she really wanted. She really valued their friendship, but she wanted something more; she couldn't help it. As she drew closer, she could only hope that Toshiro would forgive her selfishness. Lightly, she pressed her lips against his.

Hands whipped up; one snaking around her back and one pressing down on her head. Momo opened her eyes in alarm as Toshiro kept them in a lip-lock. He released her a moment later.

"Baka. Don't you know not to take advantage of people in their sleep?" he said with his eyes still closed.

"W-what…well, uh, I…w-wait!! You're not even asleep, Shiro-chan!!"

"It's the same concept."

"You – you were awake this whole time?"

"Did you find your missing piece?"

"Shiro-chan! You little eavesdropper! I can't believe you would do that, tricking me like that! What kind of a friend are you? You sneaky little-"

Her blooming tirade was interrupted when Toshiro hugged her to him, making sure to bury her head into his chest. "Be quite, Bed Wetter. You'll wake up oba-san, plus I won't be able to sleep."

Momo unburied her head. "Who do you think is making me say all this?" she hissed.

"Have you found your missing piece yet?"

"Stop doing that!"

"Doing what?"

"Answering my questions with your questions!"

"Well have you?"

Toshiro fell silent. His arms did not loosen their hold on her; he turned on his side, bringing her along with him. Momo laid stunned, listening to the gentle beats of his heart. His arms felt snug around her. She let out a sigh of defeat, conceding victory to him and shuffled around so that she could wrap her arms around him. They fitted perfectly.

"Yeah, I found him."

Well I thought it was a very adorable concept, lol! I already have the next theme planned out (this is probably a first XD). Anyway, it's going to be another holiday special, so I'm sure you can guess which one!

So, school's horrible, work's horrible, but at least school's about to finish! Viva la vacation!

Please review! (it's moved to the middle right there *points down* It's big, it's green...you can't miss it!)